I visited CCV yesterday, and remain 100% on the fence between high-top and pop-top.
The CCV folks were a friendly bunch. Newer info is that CCV is willing to cut a full-length roof opening. An employee Jeff suggested to put the pop-top on a high-roof Sprinter, but owner Derek astutely commented that the result would be ridiculously tall.
The mattress measures 48 x 78” and sufficient for two people, and I’d personally opt for firmer foam. Sitting on the squished foam, I had several fingers to a hand width of head clearance, and I sit 38” tall; so there’s more than plenty.
The frame construction is steel channels screwed into Baltic Ply. Check out construction quality with snapshots uploaded to:
Sportsmobile Forum - REB's Album: 2017-10-11 CCV site visit I wish to have remembered the brand of the Linak-style linear actuators! The pivot appears to bear on a threaded ¼-20 alloy SHCS (170ksi). Wonder why square tubing with a combination of bushing / binder / shoulder screw isn’t used, but that’s a trouble with casually observing mechanical stuff! The resulting frame is sturdy. There are two closure latches at the front. It’s a chopper-gun fiberglass top. From outdoor experience, I would have wished for larger molded zippers because the current ones will be the weak link in the tent, tho probably good enough since they won’t get heavy use.
We discussed possibilities for getting the bed up and out of the way if a full-cutout is employed. One option is to cut the bed in four sections, and first stack the plywood to one end with foam on top. The foam mattress is narrower than the plywood to clear the actuator and frame hardware. Another possible option is to hinge a full-length bed from the end, so it lifts after the top is up, and gas struts can be used for lift. I should think that with making the correct plywood cutouts you could lift a full-length bed straight up.
There is unused space above the mattress and top when the top is closed. I’m guessing that the frame lift limits the lower limit of the top because of the obtuse angle. I wish the fiberglass top was lower profile to better blend with the vehicle’s cosmetics.
So other options that I’d love to see are:
SMB Penthouse
GRTV (
http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...0-eb-4149.html)
Also need to think about efficient space use for a 144 sans pop-top!
Here’s another pros vs. cons thread:
https://sprinter-source.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=47530
Cheerio – Ralph